Another Attempt at the Exam
by chibifurby
Summary: Sakura and the other genin try and retake the chunin exams again, having failed six monthes ago. Will there be any problems this time around? One can only hope not.
1. Chapter 1

Alright, my second Naruto fanfic. To be honest, my first one kinda stunk, one reason being I got like 7 reviews total!!!!!!!! So come on guys, Read an Reveiw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Chapter 1

Six months after Konoha was attacked by the sound ninjas, another Chunin exam was being held, again in Konoha. Foreign ninja were pouring into the village to take the exams. Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Tenten, Lee, Neji, Choji, Ino, and Sakura had planed to retake the exams, having failed half a year ago. As the exams were taken in groups of three, and Shikamaru had already passed the exams, Sakura had joined Ino and Choji to take part in the exam.

As they all walked into the academy and headed toward room 301 for the exam, a crowd of people were congregated on the second floor. They all stood outside one of the classrooms. The sign above the door said 301…

"Come on let us in," shouted one of the people in the crowd.

"As if," said one of the Genin standing in front of the door, "People like you don't have the skill to take an exam like this. You're better off just leaving and forgetting about taking it."

As Sakura and the others walked by, they saw two Genin standing at the door leading into the classroom labeled 301.

"Should we say something?" asked Tenten, as one of the Genin attempted to enter the room but was shoved back.

"Nah, gives us less competition later," sniggered Kiba, as another Genin failed to enter the classroom.

"Hmm," came a voice from above them.

Everyone in the hallway looked up. Three ninja stood there with Konoha headbands on their neck and heads, feet planted to the ceiling, one bending down to examine the sign containing the room number.

"Hey, what are you doing up there," called the second Genin who was standing in front of the door.

"Nothing, just checking out this genjutsu you set up," said the ninja, "To be honest, I've never seen a jutsu like this. You managed to actually make it seem like the number is changed without casting it on the person. What do you call it?"

"What the hell you taking about, huh?" called a Genin in the crowd.

"Wow this year's group is dense, even a newcomer figured it out," said the first guard.

"Well we figured it out last year too and we were the newcomers back then," called Sakura.

The second guard looked down from the ceiling and brought his gaze onto her.

"So true," he said to her, "Come on Izumo, there's no point dragging it out any longer since big mouth up there told everyone the truth."

And with that the two guards disappeared in a burst of smoke, as the classroom sign changed from 301 back to 201. After most of the Genin had realized that they were on the wrong floor and went up, the three on the ceiling jumped down next to Sakura and the others.

"Yo," said the guy who was examining the sign. He had lengthy black hair that fell down to the middle of his back that was tied up at the bottom, black eyes, and was about half a head taller than Sakura. "So you guys knew too? From the sound of it, this isn't your first time?"

"Nope," replied Lee, "We all took it last year, but sadly, none of us passed."

"That's too bad," said one of the girls behind the guy. This girl had long purple hair that reached the bottom of her back, with blue eyes, and was about the same height as Sakura.

"This is our first time taking this, but we got an idea of what we're up against," said the second girl, who had long pink hair, the same color as Sakura's, and the same length as the other girl on her team. She also had brown eyes and purple triangular marks running across her cheeks. She was recognized by Kiba immediately.

"Nina," he said to her, "it's been a long time."

Nina looked up at him, "Kiba," she said, noticing him and giving him a hug.

"Ok…how do you two know each other?" asked Ino.

"Kiba and I are cousins," Nina explained, "Distant yes, but still cousins."

"So she's also part of the Inuzuka clan too?" asked Hinata, "doesn't she had a nin-dog?" Hinata looked around Nina for a dog that could belong to her.

"Nope, her side of the clan doesn't work with dogs," said Kiba.

"Uh… isn't that your clan's specialty though?" asked Choji, his hand digging in a bag of potato chips.

"She isn't a part of our clan, her clan is different from ours," said Kiba.

"But you said that you two were cousins," said Neji, "and yet you say you're cousins?"

"You guys only assume that, because we're cousins, that we're in the same clan," said Nina, "My clan doesn't work with dogs, or any animals for that matter."

"Then what's so special about your clan? It should be animal based, right, since you're related to Kiba?" asked Tenten.

"Uh…" Nina hesitated, and glanced at the guy ninja with her, "I don't think that I should reveal-"

"It's alright Nina," cut in the guy, "there's no one else in these halls so might as well show them."

She nodded as she removed her headband, which was tied on in a fashion that covered the top of her head. She removed her headband to reveal a pair of pointed cat's ears on the top of her head.

"Has the agility and reflexes of a cat, and with a shocking personality to boot," said the first girl.

"And a tail too?" said Ino in surprise, as a tail snaked its way out between Nina's shirt and pants.

Nina just smiled as the guy turned to go. "We'd better get going if we want to make it to the exams on time," he said.

"Right," Sakura nodded, and then, "wait," the three stopped, "we got Nina's name, but we never got you two."

"Name's Saji," said the guy, then jerking his head in the other girl's direction, "and that's Julia." And they continued to walk on.

When the rest had reached room 301, Ibiki and the other proctors were already there.

"Hurry up," Ibiki called out to them, "it's almost time to start."

The nine of them sat in the left over seats, none that were close to each other, though Hinata sat next to Saji. Ibiki called to get everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone, we will be starting the first exam," he said, "I'm going to explain a couple of rules and I am not taking any questions."

'Over course,' thought Sakura, 'This is the same as last year.'

As though he was reading her mind, Ibiki continued, "Many of you will think this will be the same as last year, but to give you fair warning, it's not. This year we will have a new set of rules. For one, in order to pass this exam you will need to answer at least eight out of the first nine questions correctly." Many people called out in outrage. "For another," Ibiki continued, "If a proctor catches you cheating three times, you will fail." More cries of outrage. "If your teammate is failed, you fail too." More cries of outrage, then realization that that part was the same as the year before. "I will give you the tenth question after the first 45 minutes and will have up to 15 minutes to come up with an answer."

As soon as Ibiki finished speaking, the other proctors handed out the tests and the examinees began to write.

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So people what do you think? Give me an answer please. I don't know if you guys like it if you don't say anything, therefore i don't know if i should continue writing. So please reveiw. 


	2. Chapter 2

Yay second chapter already, my head hurts from too much thinking.

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Chapter 2

As the test had started, many had already started cheating. Apparently the proctors were more lenient in the pervious exam. Within fifteen minutes, five separate teams were already declared as failed. There was only one ringer in this exam too, instead of the previous too, making it harder to find out who knows all the answers to the questions. Neji, who found a seat behind Nina, was having difficultly finding out who was the one ringer. Suddenly, he felt something poking at his knee. He looked down to see a purple cat's tail prodding his kneecap. He started to get annoyed at the constant poking so he poked back with his pencil. As he did so, as small shock ran though the pencil.

He was rather surprised at the shock. 'Ok…' he thought, 'I'm pretty sure pencils don't conduct electricity.' He turned back to his paper, deciding to try and ignore Nina's tapping, and placed the tip of the pencil on to his exam.

As soon as he did so, the pencil started to move on its own. Instead of looking under the table again, and risk being thought as cheating, he used his Byakugan to look though the table. He saw that under the table, where ever his penciled moved, Nina's tail was right underneath. He figured that she had somehow made his pencil into a magnet to her tail. When he looked at his paper again, he realized that the pencil had written several words. "Three people to the front, one to the left." Neji understood at once and was thankful that Nina had told him. He activated his Byakugan again and looked at the third person in front of him, then to the person on his left. Sure enough, the guy had almost half his paper filled out. As he started to write, Nina had begun to write too, mimicking him through her tail.

On the other side of the classroom, Julia was created a field of thick air. As the person behind her wrote, she had copied by feeling the movements of his pencil with the thicken air that she created.(A/N: It's kinda hard to explain. It's kinda like Dosu mimicking the person through the sound of their pencil.)

Further down, Saji was…asleep. Hinata was wondering what on earth was he doing? But, before she dove into anymore thought, she quickly copied down the answers he conveniently left in plain view to her.

As 45 minutes had passed the exams were collected and graded, Saji's needed to be tugged from underneath him, since he didn't wake up. Many of the Genin didn't pass, though a handful still did. So after the failing teams left, Ibiki attempted to get everyone's attention. Though no matter how many times he called, Saji just wouldn't get up. After everyone started to get impatient, Nina ended up throwing a kunai at him. As the kunai flew toward him it hit him squarely on the head. Hinata let out a soft scream as blood seeped out of Saji's head. Suddenly, the body disappeared in a cloud of smoke to reveal a log, impaled from the top(where do they get these indoors?)

"Tsk, tsk, Nina, you were caught cheating twice," came a voice.

Everyone looked around to the proctors lined up against the windows to see Saji squatting down and looking at one of the proctor's clipboards. The proctors all looked taken aback at the sudden appearance.

"Will you get back to your seat now," said Ibiki, in a slow, deadly voice.

"Yeah, yeah" said Saji, returning to his seat.

"Alright, now I shall give you all the tenth question," said Ibiki, after Saji sat down. "But first you will have to choose whether you accept or reject the question. If you reject the question you and your teammates will automatically fail. But, if you choose to take the question and were you to fail, well… you are banned from ever taking the chunin exams again. If you wish to reject the question, just raise your hand." Of course, many raised their hands, scared to be unable to answer the question correctly, though the second timers stayed put. As the hands stopped going up, Ibiki had pronounced all the remaining students as passing the first exam. Just like the previous exam. As he was explaining the tenth question to the newcomers, Anko appeared, in her usual fashion of crashing though the window.

"Alright you spineless cowards, all who has passed the first exam, follow me now," she shouted, much to most people's surprise. Anko looked around the classroom, then turned to Ibiki, "You passed 90 people, 30 teams? That's more that last time."

"What can I say?" asked Ibiki, "They get better and better each year."

Anko smiled evilly, "I guess that just makes the next exam a lot more fun. Alright everyone, follow me."

As they reached The Forest of Death, Anko started explaining the rules. It was all pretty much the same except for one part.

"This time around, instead of 5 days, we are expending the amount to eight days," Anko called out to the crowd, with a moan from Choji, "Not again," he groaned. Anko continued, "And in addition to that, no one is allowed in the tower before the fifth day, got it?"

Everyone mumbled their understanding as Anko passed out her consent forms. As they had turned in their consent forms, received either a heaven or an earth scroll from the other examiners, and picked their entrance gate, Kiba, Neji, Sakura, and Saji agreed that they would help each other out and not steal the scrolls from one another, unless it was completely necessary. When the exam started, the group gathered in a small clearing, deciding of what to do, and planning out their eight days in the forest. As for the scrolls, they had all had earth scrolls, with was horribly convenient.

"Alright, we should spend the first few hours scouting and look for food and water," instructed Neji, "If you see a fight, don't enter it, unless of course both teams had lost. If not, don't bother with them and return where in twelve hours, got it?" Everyone nodded. "If anyone gets into any trouble, send up a notable jutsu and the rest will go to help out." Another nod. "Alright, ready? Go." The four teams scattered.


	3. Chapter 3

The third chapter is now up. I know that was fast so you might want to bear in mind, the more reviews I get, the more I'm encouraged to write.

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Chapter 3

As the four teams scouted the forest separately, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino decided that it would be easy if the split up, that way they could cover more ground. As they went their separate ways, Kiba didn't have to go far when Akamaru smelt several bodies of chakra a little ways away. Kiba wanted to check out the fight, though Akamaru didn't want too, remember the first time they saw Garra fight in the forest.

"Ah come on Akamaru," Kiba said to the dog, "I doubt we'll see anything like that again. But if things get too hairy, we'll get out of there, I promise."

"Arf!" Akamaru barked, and Kiba smiled.

"Alright then, lets go," Kiba said as he took off, Akamaru on his tail.

When they got there, they saw a group of six people, three of them from the mist village and the other three had their back to him so Kiba couldn't tell what village they were from, thought the two in front looked very familiar.

"Uh, guys I really don't think we should fight someone with the same scroll as us," said the girl closest to Kiba.

"Be quiet Hitari, just because you were his cousin, doesn't make you the boss of us," said the guy.

"You know she does have a point," said the second girl, "there is no point to this fight."

"Are you kids here to fight or are you going to talk all day," said one of the male mist ninja.

Though as the three, still unknown by Kiba which village they're from, ninja argued, they did not notice a water clone above them, and they appeared to be going for the girl in back, Hitari. Kiba was the only one to notice, apart from the female mist ninja in back who cast the jutsu. With thin needles in its hand, the clones above dove for the Hitari. Without thinking, Kiba jumped up and grabbed the Hitari around her waist as he pulled her away from the attack. Kiba landed on the ground with the Hitari still in his arms. Kiba looked at her and was able to see her features completely. She had short dark brown hair with the same color eyes. She wore her headband in a bandana-like fashion. As soon as Kiba saw her headband, his heart sank. She and her teammates were from the village of sound. Her two teammates turned around at the commotion and saw Kiba with Hitari. Kiba looked up and saw them as well, and his heart sank even more. It was Zaku and Kin, from the previous exams.

"What the hell are you doing with her," yelled Zaku, raising his arms to attack Kiba.

Hitari, who had yet to see her savior completely, got up between them, "No, Zaku, that is definitely not a way to treat someone who saved your teammate."

"No, but it is a way to treat the people from the village that your cousin was sent to attack," retorted Zaku.

Hitari blinked in confusion at this comment and turned to look at Kiba. Her eyes widened in shook and, against her own will, felt her face redden slightly when she saw him. Kiba, who was completely oblivious to this, was glaring at Zaku and Kin.

"You guys have the nerve to come back here after what Orochimaru did to the village?" Kiba shouted at them.

"Ah forget this," said the female mist ninja, "Lets go."

"Your choice Rei," said one of the others, and the disappeared.

"Great this was a waste of time," said Kin, exasperated.

"Come on Hitari, we're going," shouted Zaku as he and Kin vanished.

Hitari hesitated, unsure of what to do. She finally decided give Kiba a small hug in thanks and secretly slipped something into his pouch on his waist, and ran off after Zaku and Kin. Kiba just stood there, dumbfounded.

When Hitari finally caught up to Zaku and Kin, Zaku turned to her.

"Give me the scroll," he said, his hand outstretched.

"I don't have it" Hitari said, coolly, hands in her pockets.

"What!?" shouted Zaku.

"Zaku," Kin said, still looking in the opposite direction, but Zaku ignored her.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you with the scroll, I knew it," Zaku cried out.

"Zaku!" shouted Kin, as Hitari stood her ground.

"What!?" he roared at her.

"We could just take the ones that those dead guys dropped," Kin said as she pointed into a clearing.

Sure enough, there were six dead ninja, who seems to have killed each other. Their scrolls on the ground next to them. One heaven and one earth.

Zaku stared at them for a moment and grinned, "Lucky." And with that he ran off into the clearing to collect the scroll.

Kin looked at Hitari, whose face was emotionless. "I don't know what you did with the scroll we had," Kin said to her, "but don't do it again."

Hitari said nothing to this.

Kiba resumed his scouting and after that, night started to fall. The four teams gathered together again to report findings and present any spoils they might have found along the way. As Kiba reached into his pouch to take out the mushrooms he had placed in there, he felt something that did not feel like anything he put in there. He pulled the thing out and gave a shout of surprise.

"What the-" he shouted.

The others looked at him. "What is it, Kiba," asked Hinata.

Kiba showed them. It was a heaven scroll.

"Where on earth did you find that!" exclaimed Lee.

"I don't know," said Kiba, "I never found any scrolls. I didn't even get into any fights."

They all looked at him in surprise. Kiba stared back at the scroll wondering where he got it from.

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That was an intresting twist now wasn't it. I would like to thank TheNewKid25 and Shikagurl07 for the reviews and for the characters, THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!! passes out from lack of air REVIEW! 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After the day Kiba found his heaven scroll. The group decided that it was time to search for their own heaven scrolls. Neji, Tenten, Lee, Sakura, Ino, and Chouji set out together to look for their scrolls while Kiba, Hinata, and Shino, followed Saji, Nina, and Julia, since Kiba and them had nothing better to do. As they were jumping tree to tree, Neji came to an abrupt stop and held out a hand to stop the others.

"What is it?" asked Lee.

Neji held up his hands in a seal.

_Byakugan!_

"Three ninjas up ahead, they seem to have accidentally got two heaven scroll," Neji reported.

"Then how about we go take the scrolls from them," said Ino, "Then we can go help out Saji and the others."

Neji nodded. "Try and sneak up on them first, they don't seem like they'll be on the move for a while."

As they moved as close to the three ninja as the possible dared, they hid in nearby bushes, trying to see what would be the best way to attack them. But before they could do anything else, the three ninjas leapt out of the clearing into the trees above. As they jumped, one of them through a kunai at were they were all hiding. It missed them and hitting the tree above them, but attached to the kunai was an exploding note.

"Move!" shouted Lee.

They all jumped into the clearing just as the note exploded. As they landed, hundreds of clones started to appear, coming out of the ground and trees. Black, with white cloths over their eyes and breathing masks over their mouths, the clones started to move toward the group.

"I recognize this technique," said Sakura, "It's the clones that those rain ninja used in the last exam. The clones are just normal closes and their attacks aren't real, but the illusionist is hiding and synchronizes their attacks with the clones making it look like the clones are real."

"Then how are we to beat them?" asked Ino, as the clones came even clones encircled them.

"Fight back, but don't use all your strength," whispered Sakura, trying not to be overheard, "then after a while, act like you're exhausted, when that happens the enemy will come out and try and finish us off."

"And that's when we really fight back," said Lee, "I like that."

They all charged at the clones. The clones threw multiple kunai at them, which were dodged. Sakura and the others fought, though after one clone was defeated another appeared in its place. They fought on for hours. They had started around the late afternoon, and it was already rather dark out. As one by one they were thrown into one group, the clones started to fade and disappear. Three ninja stood in the space that was previously occupied by the clones. It was indeed the same three ninjas that attack Sakura in the last exam. Mubi, the one with an opening in his cloth for his left eye, recognized Sakura within the group.

"Hey Oboro, it's that brat from the last exam," said Mubi.

Oboro's eyes left the scrolls that had fallen out of Ino's and Tenten's waist pouches and looked at Sakura. "Lucky," he said, pulling out a kunai, "Like cornered rats."

Neji caught Sakura's eye to ask whether they should attack yet. Sakura shook her head and held up a hand slightly to tell him to wait a little more.

As Oboro and the other two ninja moved toward them, Sakura shouted "Now!"

In a flash, Neji, Lee, and Tenten, were behind Oboro and the others. Lee punched Oboro in the face, Neji preformed a gentle fist technique, knocking out Mubi, and Tenten clubbed the third on the head with a summoned weapon. When they all knocked out, Lee searched their pockets, finding the two heaven scrolls they carried.

"Cool, now we can help out Saji and the others," said Ino.

"Too late," came a voice from overhead. They looked up to see Saji, Nina, and Julia. In front of them, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino stepped out from the nearby bushes.

"Whoa, what happened to you guys?" asked Kiba, noticing the dirt on their clothing.

"Fight," Chouji said simply, hand digging in a bag of chip.

They spent the next three days camping out in front of the tower, setting up traps to prevent others from reaching the tower, and just plain loafing around. On the fifth day of the exams, the four teams entered the tower, each through a separate set of doors.

As Saji, Nina, and Julia entered through their door, a voice spoke out to them. "You guys seemed to take your time."

They looked around. Orochimaru was leaning against the opposite wall.

"Why are you here?" asked Saji.

"To ask my current subordinates if there were any prominent genin this time around," replied Orochimaru.

"No, they're all on average," said Nina, "None of them look too special."

"Well, keep watching them, I want to know if anything promising shows up," said Orochimaru.

"Fine," replied Julia, heavily, and Orochimaru disappeared.

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Now this is a real DUN DUN DUN!!!!! moment isn't it? Sorry if it's a little short. I wanted to start the third exam on a fresh chapter. 


	5. Chapter 5

Aw, one day late so sue me... anyways, fifth chapter.

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Chapter 5

Sakura and the others had waited for the next three days in the tower. On the eighth day all the teams that had passed the test had joined them. There was a total of seven teams that passed. Sakura, Lee, Kiba, and Saji's team was joined by Hitari's team, the mist team that the sounds had fought, and to everyone's surprise Garra and his team were there as well. This years test was watched over by non-other then Shikamaru. Behind him stood the jounin of the teams that passed the second exam.

"Before the third exam begins, we're going to hold preliminaries to decide who gets to participate in the main event, due to the excessive amount of people here.." Shikamaru explained. "To put it in simple terms, there too many of you here. If any of you are not feeling well or just feel like quitting please come forward now, since we will be starting the preliminaries immediately."

"Man, if only I could drop out, this is so not worth the time," said Saji.

"Saji, you know what Orochimaru wants us to do, so we better do it," whispered Nina, from behind him.

"Tsk, damn," Saji muttered.

"No one?" Shikamaru asked. "Alright, we'll move on then. As we conduct the preliminaries, the match will be stopped if at anytime I feel that there is a clear winner, or in the unlikely event that someone dies. While we the others are in their own preliminary match, the others will be asked to wait and feel free to watch up on the higher balcony. We will now decide who will be the first to fight."

They looked up on the big screen in the stadium as random names flashed on it. When the names came to a stop, it had Kiba's name and one of the mist ninja, Yue.

"Yahoo! I get the first fight!" Kiba cheered.

"You combat freak," laughed Saji, "you'd do anything for a fight wouldn't you?"

"Yup," Kiba smiled.

The ones who weren't fighting went up to the balcony to watch Kiba's fight.

"Good luck, Kiba," Hinata shouted… or as loud as Hinata would get.

Kiba gave a wave of the hand as he faced his opponent.

"Ready," Shikamaru said, "Begin!"

"Let's go, Akamaru!" called out Kiba.

"Arf arf!" Akamaru barked, as he jumped up onto Kiba shoulders.

_Jūjin Bunshin!!! (__Beast Human Clone!!!)_

Akamaru turned into a clone of Kiba as Kiba's nails grew into claws and his teeth grew into slight fangs. Yue started to form his own hand seals.

A heavy flow of water poured from Yue's mouth.

"_Ushi Saru U Ne I Tori Ush Uma Tori Ne Tora Inu Tora Mi Ushi Hitsuji"_

Yue started to mumble words under his breathe as Kiba decided to take action

"Let's do this!" he shouted.

_Gatsūga!!!_

Kiba and Akamaru pushed off from each other and started to spin at a ferocious speed and flew at Yue.

"_Mi I Hitsuji Ne Ushi Saru Tori Tatsu Tori Ushi Uma Hitsuji Tora Mi"_

Before Kiba or Akamaru could make contact however, a wall of ice appeared from the water on the ground, causing the attack to miss.

"_Ne Saru U I Inu Hitsuji Ne Ushi Saru Tori Ushi Ne I Tori"_

_Suiton: __Suiryūdan no Jutsu!!! (Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique!!!)_

Water rose from the ground in the shape of a dragon and shot towards Kiba. Kiba was hit back with full force and was knocked into the wall.

"Akamaru, go!" Kiba shouted as he got back up.

Akamaru, who had changed back into a dog, jumped into the air and marked Yue as the target with the "Dynamic Marking."

"That's just nasty," Yue said.

Akamaru landed on Kiba's shoulders once again as Kiba had his hands in a seal.

_Jinjū Konbi Henge: Sōtōrō!!! (Man Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf!!!)_

Kiba and Akamaru appeared, combined, as a two headed wolf.

_Garōga!!! (Double Wolf Fang!!!)_

The giant two headed wolf jumped up, spinning, and flew at Yue. Yue managed to jump out of the way, but the force of a gigantic wolf hitting the ground caused a burst of intense air. The burst of air caused Yue to crash into the opposite wall and getting knocked out.

"Yue is unable to continue, Kiba is the winner," said Shikamaru.

Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Lee cheered as Hitari gave an unseen smile. Yue was taken out on a stretcher by two medic ninjas. The screen on the stadium wall started to flash names again. Masomori Hitari vs. Ino Yamanaka.

Hitari leaped from the balcony on the arena floor as Ino did the same.

"Alright, let's get this over with," said Ino in a bored voice. "Hey Shikamaru."

"Hey Ino," Shikamaru replied, and as Hitari pulled level with them, securing the middle fingerless glove on her right hand, "Ready, begin!"

Hitari made the first move. She formed a seal and an unearthly sound came from her mouth. At once Ino started to get drowsy. Ino knew she had to get out of the Genjutsu so she threw several kunai at Hitari. Hitari was caught by surprise and hit by the thrown kunai. One of the kunai that Ino had thrown was attached to an exploding scroll. Hitari felt the full force of the explosion and Ino immediately felt the Genjutsu lift, but was still experiencing server drowsiness. Hitari slowly got to her feet, blood dripping down from various parts of her body. She brought her palms together and gathered raw chakra in her right hand, and then concentrating it to the uncovered middle finger. Hitari ran pass Ino, her middle finger brushing against Ino's shoulder. Ino had spun around to face Hitari, but when Hitari had clapped her hands together again, Ino found she was unable to move her body.

"What did you do to me?" shouted Ino.

Panting, Hitari explained. "The chakra I sent through my finger's nerve into your shoulder worked its way into your brain. After it reaches there, the sound of my hands gives me complete control over your body. I other words I can make you forfeit right now if I wanted to."

"I'd like to see you try and control me," Ino sneered.

"As you wish," said Hitari. The chakra on her finger spread though the hand and grew bigger.

Ino saw her own arm rising into the air. "I-I give…" Ino found herself saying, "I…give…up."

Shikamaru knew he had no choice. "Since Ino has given up, Hitari is the winner," he said.

The moment Shikamaru said this, Hitari released the jutsu as she started to sway on the spot. The damage from Ino's attack was starting to affect her. She started to fall back and, to everyone's surprise, Kiba leaped off the balcony and caught her before she hit the ground.

"You again?" said Hitari, seeing the person who had caught her.

"You're welcome," Kiba said, flatly, supporting her by putting her arm around his shoulder.

"Why are you helping me?" Hitari asked.

"This is thanks for the second exam," said Kiba.

"Is that the only reason?" Hitari grinned.

Kiba smiled sheepishly, "No."

And, with a glance at Shikamaru, he helped her out of the stadium, occupied by two medical ninja.

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I don't know... I thought it would be interesting to have a sound-leaf relationship. So, the OC with her imaginer's favorite character seemed like a good idea.


	6. Chapter 6

Sixth chapter, third exam, on with the fighting. A little something for random-rei too.

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Chapter 6

As Kiba and Hitari left the stadium, the next two fighters were decided. Kin vs. Choji.

"Now this should be interesting," said Kin, jumping down from the balcony.

"Go Chouji!" Sakura shouted for encouragement.

Chouji smiled weakly, remembering what had happened the last time he fought the sound ninja.

"Begin," called Shikamaru.

Kin threw several needles at Chouji, who managed to dodge them. Chouji brought his hands together as he landed.

_Baika no Jutsu!!!( Multi-Size Technique!!!)_

His body expanded as his head, arms, and legs entered his clothing.

_Nikudan Sensha!!!( Human Bullet Tank!!!)_

He began to roll at high speed toward Kin. She attempted to stop him by throwing more needles at him, but the needles were deflected by the rotation. As Chouji ran into the wall, Kin threw even more needles at him, but missed. Chouji, who had deflated, got to his feet. As he got to his feet, he heard ringing from around him. He looked at the needles stuck in the wall and saw bells and string attached to them. The string trailed back to Kin's hands, who was pulling on the string, making the ringing. The more the bells rang the more Chouji started to feel sleepy. Eventually, Chouji keeled over, asleep.

Shikamaru clapped a hand to his face. "Winner: Kin." He said, grudgingly.

Chouji was carried out on a stretcher as the two more names flashed on the screen. Kankuro vs. Tenten.

Tenten and Kankuro meet in the center of the stadium Shikamaru between them. "Begin," he called.

Immediately, Kankuro had his puppet, Karasu, out. It raced towards Tenten, who flipped over its back. Tenten shoved several kunai into Karasu's joints, jamming it and preventing it from moving its arms. Kankuro quickly summoned another puppet, Kuroari. As Tenten ran backwards, away from the advancing Karasu, Kuroari's body opened up and Tenten accidentally ran inside. Kankuro walked up to Tenten, now inside of Kuroari's closed body.

"Can't get out?" asked Kankuro.

"No!" whined Tenten, trying to force her way out of Kuroari.

"Good," Kankuro smirked.

"Winner, Kankuro," Shikamaru said, indifferently.

Kankuro made Kuroari open up, making Tenten fall out. Kankuro smiled at her as he extended a hand to help her up. She smiled back as she took it and they both made their way back to the balcony.

"Man, that was so close, Tenten," Lee said, smiling. "Better luck next time."

"Yeah, I guess," Tenten shrugged.

"Since when did you have that second puppet?" asked Sakura.

"I've had it for a while now." said Kankuro, looking at Sakura, "Though I guess I never used it during the last exam, so you guys didn't see it."

"Winner, Neji," came Shikamaru's voice.

"What?! Their done with the next match already?" cried Lee clapping his hands to his head.

Sure enough, Neji was already heading up the balcony as did a beaten Temari.

"How did that happen?" asked Kankuro.

"Don't ask," Temari said, hand raised to stop him from asking anything else.

"Let's not miss the next one by talking, huh?" said Sakura.

"That's a good idea," said Temari, laughing a little.

The screen showed Zaku vs. Rei. Zaku had stepped to the center of the stadium as did the female mist ninja, Rei. As she approached him, Shikamaru couldn't help noticing that Rei kept glancing at him. He decided to brush that off as he began the next match.

Rei conjured several water clones as Zaku placed his hands together. The clones threw several needles at Zaku, who was to busy trying to prepare for an attack to dodge or block, though he seemed unfazed, something that Rei had noticed.

"You think, with Kin as my partner, I wouldn't be able to deal with these kind of attacks?" said Zaku, smirking.

Zaku pointed his palms at Rei only to receive a needling in one of the holes that he lets air out of. Zaku screamed in pain, clutching his hand.

"You were saying?" asked Rei, hands on her hips.

Zaku smiled as he raised his uninjured hand and blow a strong jet of air at Rei, knocking her back. She tried throwing more needles at him, but they were repelled by another jet of wind. Some of the needles had entered her body, and unluckily, stuck some areas that prevented her from moving her arms and legs. She fell to her knees.

"Winner is Zaku," called out Shikamaru, see that Rei could not continue.

"Did you hear that?" Zaku said with a sneer, "I won." He shot a jet of air at Rei, knocking her back.

"Zaku, stop, you've already won," Shikamaru shouted.

But Zaku didn't listen. He raised his hand again, pointing it at Rei. Suddenly, he saw a dark shadow weave its way up his leg and onto his neck.

"If you value your life, stop this now," said Shikamaru.

Zaku felt his throat constrict. He lowered his arm. Shikamaru released his jutsu and went over to check on Rei. "Hey, you ok?" he asked her.

"Yeah, thanks," Rei muttered, not looking him straight in the eye.

"Come on, lets get you out of here," said Shikamaru, as several medical ninjas came over. Shikamaru picked Rei up and set her on the stretcher the medical ninjas were carrying. They took Rei out of the stadium.

The screen started to flash again. It stopped at Julia vs.

There was no name. "Since we have an odd number of people, Julia receives a bye."

"Lucky you," said Saji. Julia smiled broadly at him.

The screen flashed names again and landed on Garra vs. Hiado. Seeing who he was up against, Hiado forfeited at once.

Garra rolled his eyes, "You'd think I'm like capable of murder nowadays," said Garra. They all laughed.

Again, the screen flashed. Nina vs. Lee.

"I guess I'm with you," said Lee, as they both got to the center of the stadium.

"Hope you go easy on me," Nina smiled sweetly, her tail swing about.

* * *

The final matches, Nina and Lee, Sakura and Shino, and Saji and Hinata. O.o now how am I supposed to do that? 


	7. Chapter 7

Oh, man. Sorry for taking so long to update. The thing wouldn't let me upload the chapter. I hope you guys aren't getting too impatient. But, without anymore delays here is the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 7

"Hope you go easy on me," Nina smiled sweetly, her tail swing about.

"I'll try my best to," Lee said, smiling back.

"Begin," Shikamaru commanded.

Nina charged at Lee and engaged him in hand-to-hand combat. Lee fended her off easily. She decided backed off.

"Meanie," she pouted, "you're not letting me get a hit."

"Am I supposed to let yo-" Nina caught Lee off guard and punched him in the stomach.

Lee collapsed, clutching his stomach. Nina smiled.

"Yeah, I got you," Nina shouted, prancing around like a little child.

"That was a good one," Lee said, trying to smile.Lee, who was always a good sport, got to his feet and smiled. "That was good," he said, "you got me. I won't fall for that again." He brushed himself off. "Now let's be serious, shall we."

Lee vanished and reappeared behind Nina, kicking her side. Nina was knocked back but was immediately got back on her feet, but not before Lee was behind her again. He kicked her in the back, sending her across the entire stadium. Nina crashed into the wall, leaving a large hole there. When the dust cleared, Nina was standing there, dusty but looking like she didn't feel a thing. Lee tried to attack again, but this time it was Nina who was fending off the attacks. Her speed seemed to be equal to Lee's.

"What happened to the pouting girl that was here in the beginning?" asked Lee, striking you blow after another.

"She's still here, but you need to stop distracting yourself!" Nina said, landing a solid punch on Lee's face. Lee was thrown back as well as caught by surprise.

Lee got up again, "You're right, seeing how I don't think I can beat you like this," he said, bending down and undoing the weights he had on his legs and threw them on the ground. "Now that's much better."

Lee vanished faster than Nina could blink. The next moment, she realized that she was being kicked around. The barrage of kicks came from all sides, preventing an escape. One final kick sent Nina skidding across the floor.

"Rawr," Nina screeched like a cat as she was knocked across the floor. She staggered to get to her feet. "That is it." She shouted.

She took out several three edged shurikens that had an oddly blue tint to them.

"Nina, you're not going to use those are you," shouted Saji, from directly across the stadium from her. The others looked around at him in confusion.

Nina started to gather large amounts of chakra and let it flow into the shurikens that she was holding. As the chakra was absorbed into the shurikens, sparks started to come out of them.

_Raiki shuriken!!! (Lightning shuriken!!!)_

It was like seeing the Chidori coming out of tiny shurikens. Lee looked astonished at what was happening. Nina threw the shurikens in her hands at Lee, who dodged them. The shurikens headed for Saji in the others.

"Jump!" Julia shouted.

"Why, it's not like the shurikens will hit us," said Kankuro.

"Just move it!" shouted Saji.

They all moved from that side of the balcony. As the shurikens made contact with the wall, it was apparent to why they needed to move. When the shurikens hit the wall, electrical shocks were sent though the wall. The shocks were so strong, it caused a small explosion and the wall that was hit started to disintegrate into ashes. Lee's eyes widened at the site. Nina threw one charged shuriken after another, forcing Lee to run around like a fool in order to not get hit. Eventually Lee slipped up and ran into one of the explosions, which threw him into the other explosions. By the time Nina stopped throwing her shurikens and the smoke cleared, Lee was lying there in a smoking heap.

Nina was hopping up and down. "I won. I won. I won," she said over and over again.

Saji went down and caught Nina by the back of her shirt. He picked her up to his eye level. "Why did you do that?" he asked.

"He hurt me," said Nina, pouting again. "He can really kick hard."

"That's besides the point, Nina," Saji said, "if you do that again when it's unneeded, I'm taking those away, understood?" Saji was talking to Nina as if she was a six year old girl, but she listened all the same.

She nodded sadly, and Saji smiled and placed her back on the floor, where she happily hopped onto his back, purring. Saji sighed and carried her back up the balcony.

Shikamaru declared Nina as the winner and Lee was carried out with a crying Gai right behind him. Next up was Sakura and Shino. Shino stepped into the center, hands in his pockets, and Sakura walked up too. As soon as Shikamaru started the match, bugs started to crawl out on Shino's arms and neck.

"Have I ever told you I'm not too great with bugs that can kill you?" asked Sakura nervously.

"I'm flattered," said Shino, sarcastically. He sent his bugs after Sakura.

With chakra applied to her feet, Sakura dodged them at high speeds and was able to get in front of Shino. He was surprised to see Sakura right in front of him and Sakura punched him in the face. She sent him flying with her superhuman strength.

"Impressive," said Shino, getting up, "I won't expect the fifth's pupil to be anything less. But, you're finished."

Sakura gasped as she felt hundreds of bugs crawling up her legs and arms. Just as she was about to be engulfed in bugs, Sakura disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What?! It was a clone?" Shino said, looking at the mass of bugs were he had saw Sakura standing.

"Yes it was," came a voice from behind him. "And now you're finished."

Sakura punched Shino in the arm, breaking the bone, and causing him to crash into the wall. Shino slumped on the floor, the millions of bugs crawling back into his body, with blood trickling down from where he had hit his head on the wall. It was amazing to see that Shino had lost, but lose he did.

Hinata looked worried. "I hope he's ok," she said, softly.

"Don't worry," said Garra calmly, putting a hand on Hinata's shoulder, "He'll be fine."

* * *

Sorry if you find Sakura's fight along with the others' a lot shorter than Nina's, I kinda wanted you guys to see her personality a bit so, I dragged in out. And any GarraXHinata haters out there need not to worry, this is probably going to be the only hint of that. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The final matches for the preliminaries were drawing to a close. The last match was Hinata against Saji. As Saji was about to walk off the balcony, Julia grabbed his arm. Saji turned to face her.

"Don't over do it, 'kay?" she said to him.

"Yes, mother," Saji said sarcastically.

Nina giggled.

Saji walked up to the center where Shikamaru and Hinata stood.

"Um…" Hinata muttered, "Thanks for helping me in the first exam."

"Think nothing of it," said Saji, smiling, "But, you should always concentrate at the task at hand. If you're going to fight me while thanking me for something else, you will lose."

"Yes, you're right," murmured Hinata, "Sorry."

"It's fine," Saji said, waving it off.

"You guys ready?" asked Shikamaru. Hinata nodded and got into a ready stance. "Begin!"

Hinata quickly started to attack Saji, Byakugan activated. Saji lazily dodged Hinata's strikes. Finally a hit caught Saji in the stomach. Saji bent over on the ground, clutching his stomach. Seconds later he started to cough out blood.

"Wow," Saji coughed, "I never knew the gentle fist was so strong."

Saji formed a seal and fire sprang up around Hinata, or at least it looked like it to her.

"Hinata don't be fooled it's only genjutsu," shouted Sakura.

"Don't waste your breath," Saji called up to her, letting his hands fall to his sides and getting to his feet. "This is a special style of Genjutsu. It makes them hear what I want them to hear, feel what I want them to feel, I can make their body suffocate themselves." He looked at the clock on the wall. "I'd say she has 30 seconds to give up."

Hinata tried to run through the Genjutsu fire but was thrown back, the sleeves of her coat singed.

"The only way to get out is if you give up, Hinata," shouted Saji.

Hinata shook her head violently.

"The fire will consume all the oxygen around you," Saji shouted to her, "If you don't give up soon, I won't let the jutsu down. You will run out of air."

At that point Hinata sunk to her knees, clutching her chest. Saji tried couple more times to get Hinata to give up, but she just wouldn't have it. She went on all the way to the point where she blacked out from the lack of oxygen. Shikamaru quickly declared Saji the winner, and Saji released the jutsu. Hinata's breath returned to normal. Saji walked up to Hinata and lifted her onto the approaching stretch.

"She should be fine," Saji told the medical ninjas, "I wouldn't have taken it to the point of killing her."

"That concludes the preliminaries of the third exam," Shikamaru said to the winners of the preliminaries. "The finals will be held one month from today. As some of you will need to rest and possibly develop new jutsus, as some of you may have shown everyone your own already. You all will be drawing from this box," he held up box with a large hole on the top, "to determine who you will fight in the finals." He held out the box to each of them in turn. As they took a slip of paper, they all held up their numbers to show Shikamaru. He recorded the numbers down and picked the last couple pieces of paper for Kiba, Hitari, Zaku since they were all currently in the hospital. "Ok this is how the finals will stack up." Shikamaru showed them a simple tournament style set up. First up would be Kiba and Hitari, then Saji and Nina, then it was Neji against Zaku, Kankuro and Zaku, Julia with Sakura, and Garra was seated.

"It's like you don't want me to fight," Garra said, though not really caring.

"Well you can use the next month to do what ever you like but be sure to be at the arena in one month. That is all," Shikamaru instructed.

Saji looked at Nina and Julia, nodded, and vanished.

In the Konoha hospital, Hitari was laying on a bed while Kiba sat next to her. Hitari was bandaged up but was still told to rest. Hitari's headband was removed and set on the table, next to a glass of water. They had a long, happy conversation until they heard a knock at the door. Kiba and Hitari looked up.

"Come in," said Kiba.

Saji walked in and saw the two there. "Oh, Kiba," he said in surprise, "I didn't expect you to be here."

"Hey Saji, how did things go at the preliminaries?" asked Kiba.

"Ok I guess," Saji shrugged. "Oh and Kiba, I was wondering if you can get us something to eat," he said as he sat down next to Kiba.

"What am I, your slave?" Kiba said, looking at him.

"Yes, now go," said Saji, laughing as he tossed Kiba several coins.

"Whatever," Kiba said, but he was grinning. Then he turned to Hitari, "You want anything?"

"Sure," Hitari smiled at him.

Kiba nodded and left. As soon as she was sure that Kiba had gone, she looked at Saji and stared at him for a long while.

"What do you want," Hitari finally said, very coldly to Saji.

Saji sighed. "It's not something that I want," he said reaching into his weapons pouch. "It's something that _he_ wants." He brought out a kunai and rapped it with an exploding note.

Hitari's eyes grew wide as Saji stood up and brought the kunai above his head.

Kiba was walking back to Hitari's room with food in his hands when a sudden explosion occurred from above. He looked up at the ceiling.

"What happened?!" a docter shouted.

"Something within ward 3-F blew up!" shouted another docter, "It was a pretty big explosion! No fire though."

Kiba dropped the food he was carrying, 'That's Hitari's room!' he thought wildly.

Kiba raced to up to Hitari's ward. He found the door blown across the hallway from Hitari's room. He ran over to the doorway to find almost everything in the room scorched, all the windows were shattered, and most of the equipment in the room was destroyed. He looked at the bed in the room to see a charred body lying on it with the tip of a kunai sticking out. He walk shakily to the bed and sank to his knees.

"Ah shit," his muttered, tears forming in his eyes, "Ah, shit. This can't be."

Kiba heard a groan and he turned around.

Saji was lying against the wall, a lot of his body burned.

"Saji!" Kiba shouted, running over to him. "Saji, what happened?"

Saji's eyes flew open. "Damn that had a fast timer," he said, as he was helped up by Kiba.

"What the hell happened here," Kiba continued to shout.

Saji looked at the bed, then at Kiba. "I'm sorry Kiba," he said sadly, "I couldn't do anything about it."

"No," Kiba said shakily, "no," he was shaking his head, "NOOOO!!!!!"

* * *

So the preliminaries ended, a murder took place, and how is Saji and the others tied into this? What else could happen? 


	9. Chapter 9

I'm sorry for not updating sooner guys. I'm really really sorry. You know, seemingly endless quizzes and tests. Man It was a nightmare. But I shall not deprive you any longer.

* * *

Chapter 9

The matter of Hitari's death had been brought all the way to Tsunade. Though the sounds and the leafs were never allies, they looked into it anyways. Everyone that had the slightest possibility of having anything to do with Hitari's death was brought in for questioning. If it was only Hitari's death that was in question, they wouldn't have gone to so much length to find out what happened. The previous exam had held a death that was not even inside the exam itself. But this time, it was three deaths; all in the same day and the entire sound team that was taking the exam was killed. Some may have just seen this as sabotage, but most of the Jounin could see that there was more to it than just sabotaging the exams.

Though they didn't announce it to the public, they were on high alert again. They all had their suspicions on Orochimaru again. More ANBU could be seen moving around the village and there were more guards stationed at the entrances of the village.

Kiba had a hard time trying to keep himself from running off to find the killer. He only stayed put when Hinata had begged him to stay put. Saji came to visit several times to check up on them. Kiba was glad to have Saji and Hinata there with him. He felt a good friend was needed, especially ones who could keep his mind off of Hitari for at least three seconds. Saji and Kiba spared frequently, nothing too intense and too reveling of their own styles. Hinata offered to help out often too. Shino on the other hand didn't join them too often, something about not trusting others or something like that, Kiba never paid strict attention to Shino's lectures. Saji was there almost everyday, but sometimes, he wouldn't show up at all. Kiba and Hinata would go look for him in the village on these days, but every time he wouldn't even be within the village, which thoroughly confused them. They would ask him where he was but he always managed to change the subject. All that they ever got out of him was that he went "out."

A month had gone by and the third examination was just about to start, people started to pour into the village. Before the examination started, Genma Shiranui prepped them on the new fighting line up. Kiba and Saji were to be the first to fight, then Neji would me up against Nina, after was Kankuro and Julia, and finally it was Sakura and Garra.

"Well, looks like I'm first again," said Kiba cheerfully, then he looked up at Saji, "Too bad it's against you though."

"That is too bad," nodded Saji, "but…" he looked up at the stands, "let's give them a good show though, shall we?"

"Of course," said Kiba.

The others went up into the stands, as Kiba and Saji stayed in the arena.

Genma nodded their start. Saji's body immediately was engulfed in flames and started to send flames at Kiba from the mass of fire around him. When the fire hit the ground, nothing exploded, just extremely singed. Kiba didn't move, though none of the flames hit him.

"You didn't move," stated Saji.

"No, malice in the attack, no point in moving," said Kiba, bored.

"Hee hee, well, I'm not going to hold back now alright?"

Kiba flicked a finger at Saji, egging him to attack.

Saji lifted his flaming arms and directed them at Kiba. Flame erupted from his arms and took on the form of long flaming dragons. The dragons flew around Saji, encircling him.

"Go!" shouted Saji, and the two dragons flew at Kiba.

Kiba dodged their assaults, twisting and turning, jumping and flipping, but no matter what he did, nothing seemed to get rid of the two dragons. Not only that, but the more the dragons were flying around, the more flames seem to be emitted from them. Suddenly, as Kiba kept moving farther and farther away from Saji, the dragons stopped chasing after him. Kiba stared.

Shikamaru, who was in the stands watching, started to figure out what was going on, like only Shikamaru could. It seemed like the dragons couldn't not move if they were out of contact of Saji. So if Kiba stayed out of the radius of the dragons he was fine. But the more the dragons were out in the open, the bigger and longer they seemed to become, therefore, expanding the radius of attack. The technique looked like it took a lot of energy, which prevented Saji from moving from the spot he was standing and also meant that he would be a sitting duck, and if Kiba could get into close combat, the dragons wouldn't be able to get to him fast enough. The problem with that plan was that Saji was still engulfed in flames that prevented anything from getting within a meter of him. The heat seemed to melt even metal, which Kiba found out after hurling several kunai's at Saji, only to be melted before it even reached it's target. The only apparent solution is to destroy the dragons, but nothing seemed to stand in its way. They sliced though trees, burrowed underneath the earth after missing a strike to Kiba, and later bursting though the ground to resurface. The only possibility was to use a water jutsu against the dragons, which, unfortunately, Kiba knew none. It was possible another of those "Absolute Defenses."

Kiba tried desperately to break though with his _Tsūga_ technique only to be repelled by the dragons. The dragons slammed into Kiba's rotating figure and knocked him into the wall. Kiba struggled to his feet, only to keel over, unconscious.

After Genma declared Saji the winner, Saji ran over to a singed Kiba as Nina hopped down from the stands and ran to the both of them.

"Is he alright?" she asked, worried.

"He'll be fine," reassured Saji, "The medical nins will heal him."

"How 'bout you?" she asked, turning to him, "You look pretty wiped out."

"Well that was a very strong jutsu I used," said Saji, as he swayed slightly, "It took up a lot of chakra."

"Here, let me help you," said Nina, quickly putting his arm around her own shoulder, which really didn't do much as she was not exactly as tall as Saji was.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey guys, I felt so sorry for making you guys wait so long so I made this chapter to make it up to you guys. Hope you like it. Sorry if it's a little short, though.

* * *

Chapter 10

After Nina had gotten Saji back into the stands, she reentered the stadium for her own match. Neji was already waiting for her in the arena. As Genma declared the start of the match, Neji got into his gentle fist stance. Nina threw several kunai at Neji. Neji caught one, blocked the second, and caught the third in the loop on the base of the first, which was still in his hand. Nina charged at Neji and tried to hit him with a punch, but Neji pushed her fist out of the way. Nina aimed a kick at Neji but blocked that too. Nina threw a rapid series of punches but none of them managed to make contact with their target. She aimed two more kicks and another punch but missed. Neji suddenly got up close to Nina and shoot out a wave a chakra though his hand and knocked her back. Neji trusted a finger into Nina's shoulder. Nina rolled off, clutching her shoulder.

"Tsk," Neji scoffed, "I missed."

Though whether or not he missed Nina's tenkatsu, he felt a muscle snap.

Nina was still on the ground, clutching her injured shoulder. Though it didn't look like she was in pain. In fact, she was mumbling nonstop.

"If I bypass the… then the… which makes the…hm…"

"Huh? What are you…?" Neji was thoroughly confused.

Neji saw a small current of energy run through Nina's hand and into her shoulder using his Byakugan. Suddenly, Nina stood up, waving her arm around as though nothing had happened to it.

"That defiantly doesn't look right," said Neji.

Nina caught Neji off guard as he looked in amazement and, with and electricity filled hand, hit him in the back as she past him. Neji turned around to face her. It was odd that her attack didn't seem to even faze him. But in a few seconds, the effect of the attack seemed to kick in. Trying to move his arms, his legs ended up kicking upwards instead, making him lose balance. He fell over.

"Hey, that's my technique," commented Tsunade in the Kage's booth. "This girl's not bad."

Neji, realizing that there was no point in trying to continue and gave up.

"Smart move. If he had fought like that, there would have been no way he could have won, unless he was an extraordinary ninja."

"The winner is Nina, will the next contestants enter the arena," said Genma.

Kankuro and Nina entered the arena together to a storm of cheering.

"You may start when ready," Genma nodded to them.

Julia formed several hand seals and a current of air circled Julia. Karasu was ready by Kankuro's side. Karasu shot dozens of poisonous needles at Nina. Nina shot a blast of air at the ground and flew up to dodge the needles. She shot a slice of wind directed at Kankuro, but was blocked by Karasu. They both exchanged multiple blows though neither was hitting their target. Tired and almost to their limits, their attacks started to get wilder and carelessly executed. Eventually, Karasu had managed to hit Julia with one of its poisonous needles. Julia fell to the ground in agony.

"The poison that is in you now isn't deadly so you need not worry," panted Kankuro, "But as you can see, it causes considerable pain." Kankuro continued to watch Julia writhe in pain for a good long minute. "Um…you ok?" he asked tentatively, "It was only one needle, the effects should be gone by now." But Julia continued to writhe in pain.

It wasn't long until, not only Kankuro, but everyone realized that the place Julia was clutching wasn't where the needle had struck, but the back of her neck. Suddenly, Julia stopped writhing on the ground and stayed completely still, and unworldly energy coming from her body. She looked up, her face and neck covered in a weird and seemingly random pattern. Kankuro stepped back in fear.

_Kamaitachi no Jutsu!!!_ _(Cutting Whirlwind Technique!!!)_

Blades of wind created a windstorm around Kankuro. Karasu tried to block the attack, but was only cut to ribbons.

"That's the same technique as I use with my fan!" exclaimed Temari, "But I never got it to be that strong!"

The strong wind blew through the entire stadium. In the arena, the blades of wind were hitting Kankuro, drawing blood on various parts of his body.

"Look!" shouted Sakura, pointing at Julia, "Those markings!"

"Shit!" shouted Saji, as he and Nina jumped into the arena.

They both ran at Julia, who mercilessly attacked Kankuro.

"Julia, stop this now!" shouted Saji, taking hold of her by the waist.

The only response he got was the spreading of the markings on Julia's face and neck, now extending to her navel and down to her wrists. At this Saji and Nina knew they had no choice. They both gave grunts of pain as similar markings spread from the back of their necks and across their faces. With their combined efforts, Nina and Saji were able to pull Julia back, away from Kankuro.

Suddenly, everything stopped. Saji, Nina, and Julia fell back at the sudden lack of resistance. Everyone looked up to see Tsunade standing in the center of the arena, between Kankuro and the other three.

"Who the hell are you three?!" Her voice was livid.

"Haven't you noticed," came a voice, as a tall man with long black hair appear behind Saji, Nina, and Julia, who all still had their seals activated. Orochimaru stood there, his hands on Saji's and Nina's shoulders. "They're my young subordinates."


	11. Chapter 11

You know what? The every week update thing...it's not happening so just...yeah...if I can think of it I'll post it and if not just please bear with...Thanks.

* * *

Chapter 11

Everyone was on their feet and in horror. The terror that brought so many casualties six months ago was standing right in front of them. Not only that, but he had managed once again infiltrated the Chunin exams.

"So you managed to get caught did you?" asked Orochimaru, his hands visibly tightening on Saji's and Nina's shoulders, hissing in Julia's ear.

Saji and Nina winced and Julia shuddered at Orochimaru voice.

"What are you going to do about it?" asked Orochimaru, menacingly.

Julia's eyes widened in horror. "No please, don't make us…" she pleaded.

Orochimaru sneered and vanished just as three ANBU Black Ops members appeared.

"You three will be coming with us now," the fox masked ANBU said, hand directed towards Saji, Nina, and Julia.

"I'm very sorry," Julia said rather sadly, "but…we can't do that."

"You will do as commanded!" shouted the female bird masked ANBU.

"Once Orochimaru had sent an order, we must carry it out, or else," Saji said.

"So lets go then," said Nina.

The vanished too, and the ANBU gave chase. Saji, Nina, and Julia separated and one ANBU gave chase to each one of them.

"What is it you think that Orochimaru wants the three of them to do?" wondered Shizune.

"Who knows, but the best thing is to be prepared for the worst," replied Tsunade.

As if on cue, a pillar of fire, a strike of lightning, and a whirlwind appeared.

"Those are in the directions of the hospital, academy, and the Hokage's office!" shouted Shizune.

"That must be what they're after," thought Tsunade, "We'll have to head them off. Lee, Tenten, Neji, go to the hospital and head off whoever is on the way there. Garra, Temari, head towards the academy, Sakura, Ino, Choji, Hinata, Shino, to the office. Shizune, gather a group of ANBU and follow Orochimaru."

"Roger!" they all said.

Saji had reached the office quickly. Cursed seal level two activated, he climbed to the top of the office, only to find someone already there.

"So, care to explain?" asked the person. It was Kiba. Saji didn't answer. Kiba folded his arms. "I never would have thought you would be with Orochimaru," Kiba continued, shaking his head. "Is Nina with you too?" Saji nodded slowly. "I see. And with… with Hitari? It was you, wasn't it?" Another nodded. Kiba sighed. "Well, I see no other option for me to take. I mus-"

"Well, at least now I have a witness, I can go away and never be found by Orochimaru. Or anyone else for that matter," Saji interrupted him. He sat down on the edge of the office. "Have you ever once just come up her and enjoy the view?"

"Huh?" Kiba was thoroughly confused.

"It would be a shame to have to see it destroyed," Saji continued. "I guess that's why we were so willing to work with him. You know it's been so long that I forgot how we all met up with them, Age, uh…eight I think. I met Nina and Julia then as well as Orochimaru."

"Why was he so interested in you three?" Kiba asked.

"Just the first people that he saw I guess," Saji shrugged, pulling out a wad of exploding notes. Kiba tensed. "Do me a favor will ya?" He got up and walked toward Kiba. "If Nina and Julia make it out, tell them good bye, and tell Nina, I'm sorry." Saji pushed Kiba off the building. As Kiba fell, Saji snapped his fingers and the scrolls caught fire. "As for Hitari, she's still-" before he finished, the exploding notes blew up in his hands, causing the entire building to go up in flames.

Later that day, the ANBU were reporting the events to Tsunade.

"Squad leader was injured, but there are not lasting injures that needs to be attended to," reported the female bird masked ANBU. She had a bandage around her arm, covering an open wound. "Two ninja were captured and are in custody. The third attempted suicide by exploding scrolls but did not succeed, he is in the emergency ward. He is very badly burned and his situation is critical."

Kiba was in the hospital outside the emergency room, deep in thought. There was a loud noise farther down the corridor. Kiba looked up to see Nina rushing in, a circle of energy binding her wrists.

"Get back here! You're not allowed in there!" shouted one of the medical ninjas running after Nina.

She halted in front of the door and Kiba.

"How is he?!" she almost shouted.

"He's still in critical condition but he is improving," Kiba stated calmly.

"Oh god, I knew we shouldn't have split up," Nina was breaking down,

"You're going to come with us now," said the approaching medical ninja, who was also being followed by an ANBU.

"It's fine, I really don't think she'll be any trouble," said Kiba, looking back to the door to the emergency room.

"That doesn't matter, she could-"

"I'll take responsibility if anything happens," Kiba said coolly.

The ANBU sighed. "Very well then," he said after a while. He muttered a few words and the cuffs on her wrists vanished. "But if anything happens…"

Kiba nodded and they left. Nina ran to the door and attempted to peer through the window.

"Damn it, I can't see a thing," Nina cursed.

"Uh huh…" Kiba said indifferently.

Nina turned toward him. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Well it's not everyday when you find your cousin has been with the one of the worlds most wanted for eight or so years, now is it?" Kiba asked.

"Oh… that," Nina walked always from the door and sat next to Kiba. "I guess Saji didn't tell you what happened?"

Kiba shook his head, staring at the ground. "He said he couldn't remember."

Nina giggled, "That's Saji for ya. Never remembers anything even if it was two seconds ago."

"So do you remember how it happened?"

"Simply put, Orochimaru found us, threatened to destroy the village if we did not cooperate, trained us, and now we're here."

Kiba looked a little more relaxed. "You could always count on someone like Orochimaru to fight with blackmail," Kiba sighed.

Suddenly, they both heard a yell from inside the emergency room, and they looked up.

"Hold still kid!" shouted a voice from inside the room.

Kiba and Nina both continued to hear screams inside the emergency room and yelling from the medical ninjas inside.

"Stop messing with it! Ahh!!!" came Saji's voice.

Nina and Kiba both rushed through the door to find several medical ninja hovering over a struggling Saji. One of the medical ninja was emitting a blue colored chakra to Saji's neck, which was emitting its own purple colored chakra.

"Hey! Stop that this instant," shouted Nina, knocking over the medical ninja.

"What! Who let you in here?!" shouted another medical ninja.

"Don't touch the seal," said Nina. "If you do end up removing it he'll die!"

"What are you talking about?" asked the ninja she had knocked over, getting to his feet.

"Orochimaru made it so that if the seal was ever removed, it'd kill us," explained Nina.

"And yet you guys kept messing with it even when I was in pain," Saji put a heavy emphasis on the last couple words.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"So, Saji tried to kill himself. Foolish kid can't even do that right."

"Now, Kabuto, you mustn't be too hard on him. He did what he was sent out to do, though I must say the damage was quite shallow. But, nevertheless…"

"Those three still got caught though. They know too much. If they are forced to tell…"

"They won't say a word, you can believe me on that."

"But how can you…"

"They have done their part to ensure that they would not to be of any suspicion."

* * *

Very very short chapter. But it gets you thinking, doeesn't it? 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Kiba was walking idly towards the village hospital to pay Saji one of his regular visits. It was then when he saw it. A girl at one of the local shops, looking just like…but no…she died. Saji said it himself, he had killed her. She had started to walk off in the opposite direction with her bag of groceries. Kiba looked towards the hospital, which was in the other direction.

'Saji can wait, right?' he thought to himself.

Kiba raced after the girl. The girl was wearing a long black cloak with the hood drawn over her head, so Kiba couldn't get a good look at her. He followed her to the edge of the village. She stopped at one of the village guards, Kotetsu Hagane. They talked for a few minutes and, with a nod from Kotetsu, the girl left the village.

"Who was that?" Kiba asked Kotetsu.

"That…uhh…" Kotetsu stammered, scratching his nose.

"You don't know, huh? Oh well, see ya," Kiba said, heading out of the village gates.

Kotetsu gave a moments hesitation, looked at Izumo Kamizuki for a second, and nodded.

Kiba ran off in the direction he saw the girl head off towards. He followed her at a distance, making sure she was startled by his following. She started up a mountain with great agility, even Kiba had trouble following her and keeping himself hidden at the same time. Finally, the girl stopped by a cave, looked around, and entered, and Kiba followed suit. When he reached the entrance, he heard voices.

"I got some food from the village," Kiba heard voice say, a very familiar voice.

"Finally you're back, I've been waiting forever!" said another voice.

"Come on, lighten up on her," said a third voice.

"Fine, let's just eat!"

"Yea!!" a girl squealed.

Kiba ran into the cave, his heart racing.

"Hitari!?" shouted Kiba, stopping at a large cavern.

There was a loud clang as a dish fell to the floor, and the three in the cavern looked up. They were all there. Zaku, without his head gear, was sitting on a rock in a white sleeveless and black sweat pants. The scars on his arms from Shino's attack half a year ago were clearly visible. Kin, wearing a light green long sleeve shirt that was cut off above her stomach with a pair of gray pants, was also perched on a rock.

"What the hell?!" he shouted, jumping up.

"How the hell did you get in here," shouted Kin.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down," shouted Kiba, waving his hands about. "I'm not here to fight."

Zaku and Kin loosened up a little and Kiba put his hands down.

"So you all are still alive? How?" asked Kiba.

"Yeah we're all still alive," mumbled Zaku, flopping down on the rock.

"But how?" repeated Kiba, as Kin walked back to her rock.

Kiba looked from Zaku, to Kin, and finally, his eyes landed on the third member of the sound team. Hitari stood there, mouth slightly open, with an unreadable expression on her face. Kiba glanced her over quick. Besides the black cloak she was still wearing, she had on a plain white dress, and that was about it. There was a moments silence as Kiba and Kitari stared into each other's faces.

Kin gave a big sigh, placed her foot on Hitari's back, and kicked her towards Kiba. Hitari stumbled and landed and Kiba's arms. With a moments hesitation, she latched herself onto his neck.

After a few seconds of hugging, Kiba set Hitari and walked over to the others.

"I thought you guys died," he said.

"That was the point," said Zaku, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So you knew it was all fake?" asked Kiba.

"Not until the last moment," muttered Kin.

Kiba looked at Hitari and she nodded.

-FLASHBACK-

_"It's something that he wants." Saji brought out a kunai and rapped it with an exploding note._

_Hitari's eyes grew wide as Saji stood up and brought the kunai above his head. Then, suddenly he lowered it._

_"Get up," Saji ordered, extending a hand to help her up._

_"What?" asked Hitari, bewildered._

_"Get up, we're getting you out of here," said Saji, hand still extended._

_"But-"_

_Suddenly, a window near them shattered. Nina was standing there with Zaku behind her._

_"You guys not ready yet?" she whinnied._

_"Come on," said Saji, a little more forcefully._

_Hitari reached for Saji's hand, only to be flung out of the window. Nina caught her. Saji then summoned a body that looked just like Hitari. He placed it on the bed and stuck the kunai into it and it sparked at once._

_"Go quickly," shouted Saji._

_Nina, Zaku, and Hitari leapt off the building just before the exploding note blow up._

-PRESENT-

"Then we were told to hide out here and here we are," Hitari finished.

"Wow," Kiba said in amazement, giving Hitari a hug, "I'm so glad you guys are alright."

"I'll be glad when this whole thing is over," said Hitari with a heavy sigh.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Kiba spent the rest of the morning in Hitari's cave and by mid-day, started back to the village. He had only walked about a half mile when he heard something off in the trees. He thought that he ought to investigate so he went off the path to see what had caused the sound. From behind the trees, Saji walked out, carrying Nina on his back and helping Julia walk along the path.

"Come on, we're almost to the village. We've got to hurry and get to the hokage," Saji said to Julia as she stumbled across the path. Saji looked up and saw Kiba standing there. "Kiba? What are you doing here?"

"More importantly what are you doing her," asked Kiba, "Weren't you guys under ANBU guard?"

"Great, they even fooled the ANBU," Saji cried out in exasperation, "What else could wrong?"

Just as he said this, there was an explosion in the direction of the hospital.

"Shi-, we have to move it, now!" shouted Saji, picking Julia up by the waist and dashing off, Nina still asleep on Saji's back.

"Could you please tell me what the hell is going on here?!" shouted Kiba, catching up to Saji.

"Back when we were ordered to attack different parts of the village during the chuunin exams," Saji explained, "three sound ninjas caught up to us before the ANBU had caught up. They knocked each one of us unconscious and disguised themselves as us to carry out Orochimaru's orders."

"Do you know who they are?" asked Kiba.

"All I really know is that they are those who would do anything for a piece of Orochimaru's power," sighed Saji, as they entered the village gates.

"Hold it!" Kotetsu shouted at them.

"No time," Saji shouted back, "Get the hokage, tell her that the village has been infiltrated."

Kotetsu gapped at him for a few seconds and vanished along with Izumo.

They reached the hospital within a few minutes. There was fire everywhere and the area around the hospital was packed with patients. Up with in the flames stood Saji. Kiba stared from the Saji standing next to him and then to the one standing within the flames. The Saji standing next to Kiba left the girls in his care and ran through the crowd.

"Baki, that is enough," shouted the Saji on the ground, "It's bad enough that you disobeyed Orochimaru's orders."

The Saji in the hospital sneered down at the Saji on the ground, "Easy for you to say, when Orochimaru never even recognizes those who aren't the strongest."

"So, you knock us out, disguises yourself as us, and them attack the hospital, to get recognized?!" shouted Saji.

"Of course," said Baki, rather matter-a-factly.

"So, what do you intend to do now?" asked Saji.

Baki reached up to his face and tugged at the skin. It came off to reveal a harsh face covered in old scars. "We fight to see who really the stronger one is."

"Man, you even act like Orochimaru now!" called Saji, exasperated.

"What ever it takes for him to notice me," Baki shouted with a maniacal laugh.

"You have some serious issues," said Saji shaking his head.

Just then, two ANBU members appeared behind Baki and knocked him down to the ground. They pinned him to the ground as Tsunade walked up to them. "So, you're the one responsible for this mess?" she asked him.

"Hee, so? What's you're point?" Baki sneered.

Tsunade, scoffed. "Take him away," she said to the two ANBUs, who nodded and vanished. She turned to Saji. "You, come with me and bring your team," she instructed.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"So let me get this straight."

It was already the late afternoon, and Tsunade had finished interrogating Baki.

"He ambushed you from behind, pretended to be you, kidnapped Julia and Nina just to gain a higher position next to Orochimaru?" asked Tsunade in slight disbelief.

"Crazy, ain't it?" replied Saji.

Tsunade nodded. "So…what will you guys do now? Or are you guys still under orders?"

"No, we were most likely to be killed anyways, we weren't the most trusted agents under Orochimaru," said Saji.

Julia and Nina looked at Saji in shock. "We never heard anything like that," said Julia in astonishment.

"No you wouldn't have, it was something that was only discussed between Orochimaru and Kabuto," explained Saji. "So if we went back we'd probably be eliminated on the spot."

"But if we can't go back to Orochimaru, does that mean we can stay here now?" Nina asked, excitedly.

"No," Saji said flatly.

"But-"

"If we stay here, with all the knowledge of Orochimaru, they will come after us with full force," Saji explained. "It would be best if we 'disappeared'."

"How many steps have you thought ahead?" asked Julia, apprehensively.

"Till the end," replied Saji.

"So we run and don't look back?" asked Nina.

"Well, I wouldn't say, don't look back," said Saji, "But we can't stay, that's for sure."

"So will you guys be going immediately?" asked Tsunade.

"Pretty much," nodded Saji.

"Then I shall wish you all luck," said Tsunade.

The three of them left the village before the sun had even risen, the next day. No one heard from the three or Orochimaru for a long time. During the next two years, all of the members of rookie nine and Team Gai had achieved the rank Chunnin, Kankuro, Temari, and Neji became Jounin, and Garra had become the Kazekage of the sand village. As for Hitari, Zaku, and Kin, they continued to live in the Village of the Hidden Leaf, though still as sound ninjas. They trained in the village for months also made it to the Chunnin level. Tough all of this was good, Tsunade felt unease. Though he had to wait for a couple years, Orochimaru was unusually quiet, and Saji, Nina, and Julia were no where to be found, they had truly disappeared.

* * *

And I leave you all at a cliff hanger. HAHAHA I'm just that evil I know.


End file.
